He would have to pass waivers first before "parking" him in AAA as you suggest...as hes been on a MLB roster for 3 years now...he will not make it through waivers...And you want to give a career BU catcher a 2.5mm dollar deal to see if he works out? And try out Lav to see if he can work out? Yeah, good plan...Obviously some of us here and a lot of baseball people see value in salty and notice his improvement this year since working with gary Tuck and Varitek...Out of the 3, hes the best one and right now as a FT catcher the other 2 have many question marks...

If geo and Trotter got their way, the Sox transformation into a perennial under-.500 team would be complete. As it is, LL has done most of that in his string of incompetent moves, starting with leaking Tito's divorce stuff to the media. You got idiots who want to get rid of the team's only true legit power hitter/RBI guy--Ortiz--and others who want to get rid of a brightspot at catcher in Salty. I'm convinced people want to see a Pawtucket game breakout at Fenway. If you want to watch minor leaguers, just check out the DH spot and No. 2 spot for the Red Sox every game---it's chalkfull of non-MLB caliber players.

If geo and Trotter got their way, the Sox transformation into a perennial under-.500 team would be complete. As it is, LL has done most of that in his string of incompetent moves, starting with leaking Tito's divorce stuff to the media. You got idiots who want to get rid of the team's only true legit power hitter/RBI guy--Ortiz--and others who want to get rid of a brightspot at catcher in Salty. I'm convinced people want to see a Pawtucket game breakout at Fenway. If you want to watch minor leaguers, just check out the DH spot and No. 2 spot for the Red Sox every game---it's chalkfull of non-MLB caliber players.Posted by dannycater

Its amazing to me that this team has all sorts of issues with their pitching staff and yet all these suggestions to move on from the 2 positions that are not a problem, DH and C...talk about out of focus thinking...We NEED pitching and tonight Buchholz proved why good pitching will win you close low scoring games...Thats where the focus of this team should be if they want to compete this year and in the future...

When Shoppach has more AB's, then and only then can you compare the 2...comparing the 2 when Salty hits both LHP and RHP while Shop only hits against LHP is not telling the whole story...There is a reason no team has ever put him in as the primary starting catcher...Funny you say Shop gives a better target when the stats clearly show that Salty is miles above Shop in this stat...Look it up if you dont believe me...You speak as if you know salty personally ie; concentration issues and low BB intelligence...Thats hogwash...Thats your personal opinion while Im giving you facts...Scouts, managers and players say he has good BB smarts...But then again, Salty is on your "hate" list so there will be no facts that could sway your close-minded OPINION...

Shoppach is a platoon catcher almost for sure. I think he stays that way.

NWIH Salty clears waivers. Just saying! I don't think he will be worth the 6-7 mil he gets next year. Too many issues behind the plate.

Lavarnway hits both RH and LH pitching well. The catching position is such that we really need 3 catchers available and the current situation has served us well except for what appears to be a real problem with Salty defensively.

I think most regulars here know that I am big on Lavarnway but the guy who really intriques me is Swihart. He's a tremendous athlete, has hit over .300 for 3 months now down in Greenville and appears to have a solid arm in throwing out runners. A superb pedigree with USA baseball. I think that kid could play any position on the field. He's that good an athlete. He's a long way away but to me he's a top 5 prospect with the Redsox.

7) It is Shoppach who is most helped by Fenway: .996 home/.758 away. He also has just 44 PAs vs RHPs this year, but has surprising numbers so far.

Trading Salty is fine with me as long as we get a nice return, but the Shopp-Lava platoon is backwards. Salty is not as bad defensively as the clown and others want to believe (esp since May 1st). Salty has been one of our best clutch hitters this year... an area we have struggled in.

In Response to Re: Red Sox catchers: Time to Get on with it : Its amazing to me that this team has all sorts of issues with their pitching staff and yet all these suggestions to move on from the 2 positions that are not a problem, DH and C...talk about out of focus thinking...We NEED pitching and tonight Buchholz proved why good pitching will win you close low scoring games...Thats where the focus of this team should be if they want to compete this year and in the future...Posted by southpaw777

Then how do you solve the problem with Beckett ($17M), Lackey ($16.5M) and Lester, who right now all mediocre at best?

And how do you free up money to go get another pitcher? Hamels signed with Philly and Greinke doesn't have the nerves to pitch for Brockton.

Salty, overall, is terrible. But, due to cost and homers total he will have fair trade value. Park him in AAA and put him the pool of players available in trades. Go ahead and extend Shoppach for another year at 2.5M with a team option for a 2nd year and a buyout of 1M Call up Lavarnway, see how he does for last 2 months and then either go with Lavarnway and Shoppach for 2013 or park Lavarnway in AAA and sign another complimentary to Shoppach veteran catcher like Pierzynski to a 1 year contract Posted by TrotterNixon

Trotter, With your attitude and short sightedness you should change your online name to RichieNixon. If the shoe fits wear it. You're an insult to Trot Nixon. Back to the IGNORE list you go little boy.

Salty, overall, is terrible. But, due to cost and homers total he will have fair trade value. Park him in AAA and put him the pool of players available in trades. Go ahead and extend Shoppach for another year at 2.5M with a team option for a 2nd year and a buyout of 1M Call up Lavarnway, see how he does for last 2 months and then either go with Lavarnway and Shoppach for 2013 or park Lavarnway in AAA and sign another complimentary to Shoppach veteran catcher like Pierzynski to a 1 year contract Posted by TrotterNixon

Salty overall is way better than you think. fangraphs ranks him 10th best among MLB catchers. The FO has never hesitated to move a guy up when they think he is ready. Lavarnway is not ready to be the main or even the backup catcher for the Sox. He has very little catching experience at any level. You gotta love his potential, but catchers need more time than other positions. That's why the Nationals converted Harper, he was always a catcher, to the outfield.

Moon, Salty's CERA numbers are starting to get statistically significant and if you make even a cursory look at his defensive numbers they are near league worst. I mean one stat after another. See some of the Salty threads while you were gone.

Those HR projection numbers are pretty incredible though huh. Maybe he should be a DH with those numbers. I just don't believe them though. HR hitters often go on streaks and they regress to the mean over time. Salty is not at all likely to put up those projected HR numbers as you know. it is much more likely that his numbers will be more like last years HR numbers going forward.

There are some players who do emerge around his age to suddenly be great HR hitters. He is now in his prime in that regard. I certainly think it's possible he can put up great HR numbers in future years. He is definitely of some value as a catcher.

No doubt the Lavarnway / Shoppach platoon option doesn't make a lot of sense. Two right handers. It is interesting though that Lavarnway's splits are not that pronounced. Lavarnway could well be a near full time catcher potentially.

I think we all would prefer our primary catcher to be a LH hitter though ideally. Lavarnway doesn't fit that well in that regard but even as a RH hitter, against RH pitching he has put up better numbers in the minors than Salty did. And Salty has now spent parts of 6 years in the majors. I doubt that Salty improves much going forward.

To me, Tek willed himself to be a good hitter. Just will power and intelligence, work ethic. Seattle probably looked at his skill set in the minors also and thought he'd never be that good. And dumped him and Lowe ( alchhol problem ) for a reliever. An incredibly one sided trade.

its funny that the past 4 years we didnt have to get on with it when Tek literally was falling apart - especially during the late season...but now we have a catcher with pop and some of you cant wait to trade him so you can start his backup or a rookie...